FRIDAY night's 26-point loss to Geelong confirmed to Adelaide coach Don Pyke that his Crows are off the pace of the competition's elite – but not by much.

Their latest failure levelled their season at 4-4, but Pyke pointed out that those four losses had come against four of the AFL's best. 

The Cats sit atop the AFL ladder, North Melbourne (10-point loss) is second, Hawthorn (three-point loss) is sixth and the Western Bulldogs (15 points) are fourth.

WATCH: Don Pyke's full post-match press conference

"The four sides we've lost to are quality sides and it probably highlights our need to continually improve, continually work on our game individually and collectively," Pyke said.

"There's another level and that level at the moment is [set] by those teams that are up there and we strive to be one of those teams.

"We've had some really solid performances against those teams – we've just got to keep getting better.

"I think we've got a lot of improvement in us ... clearly the results haven't gone our way, which suggests we've got to keep improving to challenge [the top teams] on a regular basis." 

Of course, had Geelong kicked accurately on Friday night, Pyke's men could have easily found themselves trailing by 10 goals at half-time. 

The Cats missed opportunity after opportunity in the opening half, entering the main break having booted 5.13 to 5.1.

Pyke admitted the scoreline flattered the Crows but was nonetheless pleased with their resilience to remain in the contest.

"They were in control of the game in the first half and the kicking for goal on their behalf kept us in the game," he said. 

"At the end of the day [the scoreboard] flattered us.

"I thought our guys persevered and gave themselves a chance in the last quarter.

"The last quarter was pretty much the story of the game; we didn't hold sway when we needed to and Geelong proved they were the better team."